The Missing Horcrux
by FleetingAnemoi
Summary: Nico, Will, Hazel, and Frank are sent to help Ron, Harry, and Hermione defeat Voldemort before he takes over the Wizarding World. Their mission becomes more complicated when they realize one of Voldemort's Horcruxes isn't where it's supposed to be, and Voldemort has a secret even he isn't aware of. Post Blood of Olympus, during the Deathly Hallows.
1. Prologue: Warning

"Somewhere out in the distance, a phoenix was singing in a way Harry had never heard before: a stricken lament of terrible beauty. And Harry felt, as he had never felt about phoenix song before, that the music was inside him, not without: It was his own grief turned magically into song that echoed across the grounds and through the castle windows...As he lay there, he became aware suddenly that the grounds were silent. Fawkes had stopped singing. And he knew, without knowing how he knew, that the phoenix had gone, had left Hogwarts for good…" ( _The Half-Blood Prince_ , pages 615-632)

* * *

Cold, moist air curled around his wings. They were once a brilliant red-gold color, but were now dull from grief.

The clouds parted before him, revealing a lone pine tree standing proudly upon a hill. A copper dragon was coiled around the trunk, and he snorted smoke at the phoenix as he passed overhead.

Fawkes flew past the tree and its magical borders, into the camp spread out in the valley below him. He circled the camp once, curious, having only seen it twice before through the rippling mist of an Iris Message.

As he finished his examination and angled towards the large blue house seated next to the strawberry fields, Fawkes noticed the white centaur standing on the porch waiting for him.

"Fawkes," Chiron greeted as the phoenix landed on the railing, "To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you in person?"

Fawkes decided to be blunt. " _Dumbledore is dead."_

Chiron's face turned pale and worn. "I am sorry to hear that. What will you do?"

" _A better question to ask would be: What will_ you _do, Friend of Dumbledore? The Dark One is rising. He has killed Dumbledore, the one he feared most, without being there in person. He may soon conquer the Wizarding World, and then what will become of this camp and your gods?"_

Chiron bowed his head. "I have heard rumors, but they were just that. Rumors…"

" _I cannot predict the future like your Oracle nor do I have the authority to order your heroes about like common soldiers. I only warn you of things to come."_

"Where will you go?"

" _I will most likely leave the company of humankind and live among my brethren."_

"I see."

" _Goodbye Chiron, friend of Dumbledore."_ Fawkes leapt off the porch railing, beating the air with his wings to gain altitude. " _Whatever you decide to do, good luck."_

Chiron watched Fawkes leave, sighing. "When will the world stop needing to be saved?"

"Chiron!"

The centaur turned to see Grover running towards him, a pair of fake shoes in one hand and his pipes in the other.

"Did I just see a phoenix flying out of camp?"

"Ah, Grover. Perfect. I was just going to go look for you."

Grover stopped on the porch steps and blinked. "You were?"  
"Yes. I have a mission for you."

"Oh, Juniper is _not_ going to be happy with me."

Chiron smiled sadly. "Especially since you will be travelling halfway across the world and staying in a magical forest full of spiders and werewolves."

"What?"

"Don't worry, it's just to keep an eye on things."

* * *

 **A/N: Hi! Sorry this chapter was really short. It was meant to be an introductory kind of thing to give you guys some background on what's happening. The first chapter will be posted as soon as I get it typed out. Please remember to review! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions

"Nico di Angelo! Wake up!"

Nico grumbled and snuggled deeper under the covers, hoping that whoever was banging at his cabin door at this ungodly hour of the morning would go away before he got mad.

"Hey, Sunshine! You better open this door right now!"

Nico groaned. Only one person would be calling him Sunshine.

"William Solace, I swear to all the gods-"

Will opened the door, letting a blinding shaft of sunlight enter the dark cabin. Nico hissed and stuck his head under the covers. There was a sigh, followed by the sound of footsteps. Seconds later, a weight sunk onto the bed next to him.

Will's voice, much closer now, said, "If you don't get out of bed right now, I'm going to tickle you."

Nico leaped out from under the covers like somebody had fired a gun. "You wouldn't _dare_."

Will smirked and wiggled his fingers. "Wanna see?"

Nico threw his pillow at Will, scowling. While the son of Apollo was distracted, he jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom to change.

When he came back, Will was standing by the door, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Come on, Death Breath. Chiron's called a counselor meeting and everybody's waiting for you."

* * *

The Romans had been invited. A shimmering Iris Message containing Reyna, Frank, Hazel, Jason, and Piper hung in the air next to Chiron. The centaur stood at the head of the table, looking worried. Sitting at the table was Miranda Gardiner, Sherman Yang, Malcolm Pace (Annabeth was at college with Percy), Leo Valdez (and Calypso), Connor and Travis Stoll, Pollux, Butch, and Lou Ellen.

Will sat next to Lou. Nico sat beside him, put his head on the son of Apollo's shoulder, and went to sleep. Will put an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders and tuned in to the conversation.

"So you're telling me there are hundreds of potentially hostile children of Hecate and we have to go fight their war for them?" Butch asked.

"Not all of them are children of Hecate. In fact, there is only one living child of Hecate in that country at the moment. However, they do practice magic," Chiron clarified.

"Well, Pipes and I are still working on the shrines. We can't go off on another save-the-world quest, at least until the minor gods are accounted for," Jason said.

"And Reyna is praetor. If she leaves the legion right now, we might get another Octavian situation," Piper added.

"Why do we have to go help these people-oh sorry, _wizards_ -when we don't even know them?" Sherman asked.

The room erupted into arguments. Demigods were taking sides. Some wanted to help the wizards, most were against it. There were so many people talking at once that it took Will several seconds to realize that Nico had sat up and was trying to say something.

"Guys!" Will shouted. He waited for the assembled demigods to settle down a little before continuing, "Nico wants to say something."

Nico cleared his throat. "I think we should help them. If this Dark Lord person really manages to get control of all of those people practicing magic, the results are going to be bad. Not only for them, but for us and the Romans. We've also got to remember that they work with magic. If they decide we're a threat, we wouldn't be able to rely on the magical borders to protect us."

"Okay, so say we send a couple demigods over to help. How are they gonna get there? If I remember, they're somewhere over in Europe or Asia or something," Sherman said.

"I'm so glad you asked. I'll be shadow travelling," Nico said.

"He means _we_ will be shadow travelling," said Will.

Nico glanced at the son of Apollo, then scowled at the table. "Fine." Will grinned victoriously.

"I'm coming as well," Hazel spoke from the Iris Message, "Nico's my brother and I don't want him getting hurt. Besides, I can help with the shadow travel, like we did during the House of Hades."

Nico looked at his half-sister and nodded.

"Then I'm coming too. I'm not leaving Hazel," Frank said.

"Three is the safest number of demigods on a quest-," Malcolm started.

"Yes, but Nico and Hazel will be tired from shadow travelling and Will will need to heal them. It would be smart to have a fourth person to keep watch while everybody rests," Frank interrupted.

Reyna spoke, "Then it's decided. Frank and Hazel be coming over shortly."

Chiron nodded and turned to Nico and Will. "Please be packed by this afternoon. You leave when the Romans arrive."

* * *

Frank and Hazel arrived on Arion's back in the late afternoon. ARion shot off as soon as Hazel fed him a fist-sized chunk of gold and Frank unloaded their bags. Nico and Will were waiting for them by the pine tree, their bags at their feet. Hazel greeted Nico with a hug.

The four demigods circled up and held hands. Frank glanced at the other demigods, trying to gauge their emotions. Will looked like he was doing something he didn't want to do, but was doing it anyways. It probably had something to do with the last time Nico had shadow travelled across the Atlantic Ocean, when he, Reyna, and Coach Hedge transported the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood. Nico himself looked indifferent to the whole thing, but his hand was gripping Will's so tightly their knuckles had turned white. Hazel, who was between Nico and Frank, had a determined glint in her eye. She looked up at Frank and smiled. Frank smiled back, doing a happy dance inside his head.

"Ready guys?" Nico asked.

The other three demigods nodded. Nico closed his eyes, and the shadows engulfed them.

They were spit out into a dimly lit forest. Almost immediately, Nico and Hazel collapsed. Frank quickly caught both of them and laid them gently on the damp leafy ground. Will sat between the two demigods, held a hand over their chests, and began glowing and singing a hymn to Apollo.

Frank strung his bow and pulled an arrow out of his quiver, then faced the surrounding forest, keeping watch for any potential threats.

"Frank! Some ambrosia, quickly!"

Frank rummaged around in his pack, grabbed a bag of the godly food, and handed it to the son of Apollo. He watched the healer anxiously as he put a square of ambrosia in Nico's mouth. Hazel appeared to be resting, but her half-brother was flickering dangerously. His entire right arm was already engulfed in shadow.

"-Stan Shunpike."

"You sure about that?"  
"Yeah."

Frank stiffened and searched for the source of the voices. He glanced back at Will, who was now holding two hands over Nico's chest and chanting rapidly, then headed into the woods. Nico would be okay. Will was the best healer they had.

Frank stopped at the edge of a clearing, poked his head around a tree, and saw several people yelling at each other. There seemed to be five or six in total. Frank turned into a bear, charged into the clearing, and roared.

Most of the people fled. Frank assumed they were wizards, since they all had been waving around thin sticks of wood that were probably wands. He morphed back into human form and started to lower his bow, but froze when something poked his back.

"Who are you?"

Frank turned to face a ginger-haired boy who was pointing a stick of wood at him. The son of Mars assumed it was a wand, mostly because it was glowing at the tip.

"Frank. Frank Zhang."

"Are you a Death Eater? What's up with the bloody bow and arrow?"

Frank choked. "I'm sorry, what? Thanatos eater?"

"Thana what?"

"Never mind. Are you a wizard?"

"Yeah." The boy sounded defensive.

"Oh, okay." Frank put the arrow back in his quiver. The wizard blinked.

"What? Weren't you going to shoot me?"

"No! My friends and I are here to help you wizards against some sort of Dark Lord."

"Your friends? Where are they?"

"This way." Frank led the ginger wizard back to where the other demigods were.

* * *

Will had started a fire, laid out four sleeping bags, and started on dinner. Hazel and Nico both seemed to be sleeping peacefully, though the grass around the son of Hades had withered and died. Will looked up as Frank entered the camp. He started to wave in greeting, but faltered as he saw the ginger-haired wizard behind the son of Mars. Frank grinned sheepishly and went to introduce them.

"Will, this is a wizard I met in the woods. He's one of the guys we're supposed to be helping."

Will stood up and extended his hand in greeting. "Hi, I'm Will Solace."

"Ron Weasley," the wizard said, shaking the offered hand.

"That's Nico and Hazel," Frank said, pointing at the two sleeping demigods, "You can meet them when they wake up."

Nico suddenly let out a strangled scream and say bolt upright, eyes darting around in panic. Immediately, Will was at his side, a canteen of unicorn draught in his hand.

"Hey, Nico. It's okay. You're safe. Look at me, okay? Take deep breaths."

Nico leaned forward and put his head on Will's shoulder. Will hugged the son of Hades, patting his back comfortingly. Frank sighed, wishing Hazel was awake.

"Does that happen often?" Ron looked startled and worried.

"I guess. Nico's got it the worst out of all of us," Frank said.

"That's… kind of worrying."

Frank shrugged. "We've gotten used to it. The nightmares are mostly flashbacks nowadays, though, so we don't have to worry about prophetic dreams anymore."

"What?"

"Never mind. Want a sandwich?"

"Sure."

The son of Mars led Ron to the campfire, where Will had laid out four sandwiches. Ron practically inhaled half of his before stopping for some water. Will joined them a couple minutes later after making sure Nico was okay. The son of Hades was already asleep again.

"Not to be awkward or anything, but are you guys dating?" Ron asked.

Will looked a bit startled. "Nico and I?"

Ron nodded.

"Yeah, we are." The son of Apollo took on a slightly more defensive tone. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No! Of course not! You guys just seemed close," Ron explained quickly.

Will grinned. "Yeah, we're close."

The meal continued in comfortable silence. When he finished his sandwich, Ron lay on his back and stretched.

"I've got to go back. To my friends, I mean. I left them back in the woods by the river. They're probably gone by now, but it wouldn't hurt to check..." The wizard trailed off, looking sad.

"We'll help you look for your friends in the morning," Will said.

Frank nodded in agreement, feeling sleepy already.

"Okay, thanks." Ron rolled over, turning his back to the fire.

Will stood up. "I'll keep watch. I've got to keep an eye ehe on Nico and Hazel anyways. If there's an attack, I'll let you know."

Frank nodded in response and flopped on his sleeping bag. In seconds, he was asleep.

* * *

They didn't find Ron's friends the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. Several weeks had passed since the demigods' arrival in Britain. Hazel had woken up fully recovered on the second day. She'd been surprised to see that Ron had joined them, but got on reasonably well with him. Nico had alternated between sleep and wakefulness for several days, but was fully conscious one week later. He was cold and distant to Ron, a stark contrast to the wizard's first impression of him. Ron seemed thrown off by the difference, but took it in stride and responded by acting as casually as possible around the son of Hades in hopes to gain his trust, or at least get him to not hate him as much.

The five had spent the weeks journeying from forest to forest, only going into towns for supplies and to get bits of news. They travelled by Side-Along Apparation, since the demigods didn't have wands and couldn't travel as they normally would. They had opted to keep their identities secret from Ron, at least until they knew they could trust him. The demigods had been attacked by monsters frequently, to Ron's confusion and worry, but they soon found that some wizard spells worked just as well as Celestial bronze, Imperial gold, or Stygian iron.

They also contacted Chiron and Reyna weekly, keeping them updated. Most of their messages had to be brief due to the wizard nearby, so the demigods mostly used them to say "hey, we're still alive."

It had begun to snow frequently, and the five often woke up to find their camp buried in snow.

"Too bad Ron can't do weather spells like the ones back home. We wouldn't have to worry about catching a cold anymore," Nico said to Will.

"I just can't believe we're nearly out of nectar, ambrosia, and unicorn draught. We can't find those things in a typical mortal supermarket," Will huffed.

"Maybe we can contact Chiron and ask him to send some supplies to us somehow," Nico replied.

" _...remember Ron? When he broke his wand, crashing the car? It was never the same again…"_

There was silence in the clearing. As if hypnotized, the demigods turned to face Ron at the same time. Nico had one hand on his sword hilt. The wizard was pulling a small silver object from his pocket with an expression of confusion and surprise. He clicked it slowly, as if in a dream. At once, the campfire was absorbed into the silver object.

A pulsing, bluish ball of light appeared a few feet away from Ron and began to bob towards him.

"Don't touch it! It's probably cursed!" Frank shouted.

Nico and Will both lunged forward at the same time in an attempt to intercept the ball of light. They crashed into each other and went sprawling in the snow.

"Di Angelo, get your bony butt off me."

"Sorry, sorry."

Nico helped Will get to his feet. They stiffened simultaneously, remembering the ball of light, and turned to find Ron standing perfectly still with a wondrous expression on his face.

"Uh, Ron? You good?"

"I know where we need to go. Is everyone packed?"

Will and Nico exchanged skeptical glances. Behind Ron, Frank and Hazel were having a silent conversation that probably included "our wizard has gone crazy, please send help".

Nonetheless, the demigods grabbed their bags and circled up around Ron. They Disapparated and reappeared in a dark snowy forest. They'd barely dropped their packs before Will felt a tingle go down his spine. He stiffened and straightened, glancing around wearily.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked.

"I don't know… I think I just felt a presence-" Will had barely finished his sentence before each demigod drew their weapons. Ron pocketed his Deluminator and held up his wand, ready to fight. The five stood in tense silence for several minutes until Will sucked in a breath.

"There." He pointed.

Everybody turned in that direction. Flickering through the trees was a bright silvery light that strongly resembled a doe. Suddenly, there were soft crunching footsteps. Someone was walking through the forest, coming after the doe, which had begun to move. Ron, seemingly without a second thought, followed the light. The demigods came in pursuit.

They'd barely moved out of the clearing before the bright silvery light vanished. A few minutes later, a narrow and much dimmer light replaced it. The new light wavered all over the place, as if searching the ground.

Suddenly, a loud crack exploded through the silence. The dim light lowered past a line of dark bushes. Ron hurried forward, the demigods following again. There was a splashing noise, as if someone had dived into a lake-though anyone going for a swim in this weather at this time of day was most likely insane.

Ron disappeared beyond the line of bushes. There was a mutter of "bloody _hell_ ," quickly followed by a second splash. Hazel, who had been behind Ron, was the first to cross the bushes. She gave a squeak of surprise and turned her back to whatever was in the clearing, fanning her face. Will and Nico pushed past Hazel and Frank, who had stayed behind with her.

A mostly frozen lake occupied the clearing. A hole had been punched through the layer of ice on its surface. A heap of clothes and a still-lit wand lay on the bank. Will started towards the lake, Nico right behind him.

Ron suddenly surged out of the water, dragging another wizard behind him, spraying flecks of ice everywhere.

"Are-you- _mental_?" Ron panted.

The other wizard looked up sharply, as if surprised.

"Why the _hell_ ," Ron held up a locket with a severed chain, "didn't you take this thing off before you dived?"

" _That's_ what you're worried about?" Will interrupted, "He could have gotten hypothermia or pneumonia or frostbite!" The son of Apollo was in full doctor mode now. He knelt next to the other wizard and began feeling his pulse.

"Who are you?"

Will shuffled in his pack for some medicinal herbs. His fingers grabbed the last leaf from the now-empty bag.

"Will Solace. Eat this." Will gave the leaf to his patient. He took the herb, eyed it skeptically, shrugged, and popped it in his mouth, chewing slowly.

The effect was immediate. The boy was no longer shivering and didn't look quite so pale. He began pulling on clothes from the heap next to him, layering up with about six shirts and three pants. Once he was done getting dressed, he picked up the wand from the ground and stuck it in his pocket.

"Okay, I'll introduce everybody. Will and Nico, this is Harry. Uh, Harry Potter."

The wizard-Harry-held his breath, as if waiting for the demigod's reactions. When their only response was their names, he exhaled in relief.

"Will! Nico! Is everything alright?" Hazel's voice came from behind the trees.

"Yeah," Will called back.

"Okay, we're coming down."

Frank and Hazel joined the group at the riverbank. Ron introduced them to Harry.

"I think we can agree that the doe was a Patronus," Harry said.

"Yeah," Ron replied.

"Was it them?" Harry indicated the demigods.

"No. They don't have wands."

" _What_? Aren't you guys wizards?" Harry was addressing the demigods now.

"No, we're just mortals-uh, Muggles. We fight with swords and stuff," Frank said, using the cover story the demigods had adopted.

"Oh, okay." Harry turned back to Ron. "You got the Sword and the locket, right?"

Ron showed the mentioned items. Harry nodded. "Okay, now let's destroy the- what?"

The locket twitched in Ron's hands, then launched itself towards Hazel. She caught it, looking flustered.

"I'm so sorry! There was a voice in my head, and I felt that tug in my gut that usually happens when I use-" she cut herself off and glanced to Frank, who winced and shrugged helplessly.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "I thought you guys didn't have wands."

"And _I_ thought we agreed not to ask too many questions," Nico stepped in, the warning clear in his voice.

Ron looked confused. "We did?"

Harry whipped the wand out of his pocket and pointed it at Nico, but the son of Hades darted forward and had his sword under the wizard's throat in seconds.

"Nico, murder is below the line behavior," Will said, putting a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, "Besides, we can't kill them. We're supposed to be helping them, remember?"

Nico scowled, but stepped back and sheathed his sword. Harry was silent, Ron was staring open-mouthed at Nico.

Frank cleared his throat. "You were talking about destroying something. I assume it's the locket? It's probably cursed or something then, so we won't be able to damage it. Is that what the sword's for?"

"Uh, yeah." Ron shook himself out of his stupor. "Okay Harry, here's the sword. Hazel, can you give him the locket?"

The daughter of Pluto nodded and handed the locket to Harry, who had not said anything and was watching Hazel suspiciously.

"I'm going to open it," said Harry, getting back on track, "and you, Ron, stab it."

"Wait, what? Why me?"

"Because you took the Sword from the lake. Ready?" Harry dropped the Horcrux on the ground. Instinctively, the demigods drew their weapons and surrounded the locket, leaving Harry and Ron-who was now holding the Sword-in front of it.

"Is everyone ready? Be careful, because whatever's inside is going to put up a fight."

Ron nodded mutely, the demigods responded with "Yeah"s or "Yes"es.

"One, two, three... _open_." Harry's voice garbled on the last word, turning into a harsh hissing sound.

The locket snapped open, revealing one human eye on each door, then emitted a dark smoke that billowed into the air and grew several large red eyes.

Nico was the first to react, but it wasn't in the way the wizards expected: he dropped to his knees, hyperventilating. Memories of Tartarus flashed across his mind, images of Bianca dying, his mother being struck by lightning, his father scorning him, Will abandoning him. His sword clattered to the ground, which was turning brown and dead at his feet.

"Nico!" Will kneeled next to the smaller boy and hugged him. "Neeks-What's wrong? What are you seeing?"

Will himself saw patients he had failed to save, but he ignored the visions and focused on the boy in his arms. "Nico, come on…"

The earth trembled at Hazel's feet, but nothing broke the surface. Her eyes were clouded with the past pain of being drowned alive in oil, using her own powers to bring down the cavern around her and her mother.

Frank was shaking, staring at the eye in front of him. He was kneeling at Thanatos's feet, using the flames from the wood connected to his own life force to cut the chains. He reached the final chain, but there wasn't enough wood left-ashes fell from his fingers as Frank toppled sideways, his body racked with pain. Hazel was screaming in the distance, a giant was laughing, Arion was whinnying…

In front of Harry, he saw Voldemort killing his parents, Cedric dying before his eyes, Sirius falling through the Veil, Ginny lying bloody and pale on the floor, Lupin struck by a Killing Curse. His resolve faltered, but he turned from the visions to face Ron, who was staring at the eye in front of him with a disgusted look on his face.

Abruptly, he brought the sword down; it slashed through the smoke and cleaved the locket in two. With a howl of agony, the smoke dissipated, revealing the demigods in varying states of despair. They seemed to realize they were being watched and faced the wizards shakily.

"Um… right. I was thinking we should find the tent again," Harry said, pretending not to have seen the four Muggles at their weakest moments. He had the feeling Nico would kill him if he brought up the subject.

"What tent?" Hazel asked.

"You'll see. It looks small, but it's a lot bigger on the inside," Harry said.

They gathered their scattered belongings and walked the relatively short journey to the wizards' tent. Inside, Hermione was sleeping next to a bowl of blue flames.

"Hermione, wake up!" Harry tapped her shoulder. The witch stirred and sat up.

"Harry? What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I just brought a couple people over."

"What are you talking about? Who-" She stopped mid-sentence as she spotted Ron. Hermione stood slowly, then leapt at him and punched Ron in the face.

"What the-Hermione! Bloody hell-"

"You complete _arse_ Ronald Weasley! You crawl back here after weeks, _weeks_ -Harry, where's my wand? _Give me my wand, Harry Potter!_ "

Harry backed up instinctively, shouting, " _Protego_!"

An invisible shield burst into existence between Ron and Hermione, the force of it pushing them both back several feet.

"I'm sorry-"

"You think a simple _sorry_ will be enough? We could have been _dead_ for all you knew-"

"I wanted to come back the minute I Disapparated," Ron began yelling over her, "But I walked right into a gang of Snatchers and I couldn't go anywhere!"

Hermione crossed her arms, her glare so fierce it nearly matched Nico's. Harry glanced over towards the entrance of the tent as Ron recounted his tale. The strange Muggles were standing outside, waiting, it seemed, for permission to enter. Frank and Hazel were watching the scene inside with wide eyes, and Nico and Will seemed to be in an intense argument.

"I'm _fine_ , William Solace!" Nico yelled, and began walking away from the blond. Will followed him, catching up to the shorter boy quickly and wrapping his arms around him.

Harry felt a pang of longing for Ginny's company. He turned his attention back to Ron and Hermione, who now seemed to be discussing the silver doe.

"I can't believe this! Then what happened?"

"Well, Harry opened it with Parseltongue, and I stabbed it. Frank and the others were getting attacked by another monster. Don't worry though, they got rid of it easily."

Harry felt a surge of gratitude towards Ron for lying for the Muggles. They all seemed so young and had gone through so much, probably more than he had. He suddenly felt a rush of protectiveness towards the four, even though they could probably handle themselves just fine.

Harry realized someone was calling his name, and he shook himself out of his thoughts.

"Harry! Are you listening to me?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah."

"I was wondering if you could introduce me to the people outside."

"Oh, right."

Harry wondered why she wasn't asking Ron. After all, Ron had known the Muggles longer than he had. Then he realized Hermione was pointedly ignoring Ron; she would look just above his head and direct most of her questions to Harry.

Harry went outside, followed by Hermione and Ron. Frank and Hazel were now standing next to Nico and Will; the four of them seemed to be discussing something.

"...contact Chiron. He'll be able to figure this out."

"Yeah."

"What are you guys talking about? Who's Chiron?"

The Muggles stiffened and exchanged glances with each other. Hermione's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Chiron is our teacher. He was friends with Dumbledore, and sent us here to help you guys fight this war against the Dark Lord," Frank said.

Ron nodded, having known some of this already. Hermione, on the other hand, was eyeing the Muggles as if contemplating where and when she could grill them for information. Nico returned her stare with an icy glare, making the witch break eye contact. Harry, sensing the building tension, introduced the Muggles to his friends quickly.

"Okay… Now that that's been taken care of, can we go sleep somewhere?" Will asked, yawning.

"Yeah. Come on, I'll give you a tour of the tent," Ron said.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Please don't forget to review, constructive criticism is appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 2: Capture

The following day was spent gathering firewood and water, collecting anything edible, and avoiding Hermione. The witch had spent the hours with her nose buried in a book, communicating only with silence and glares. As they collected water, Harry and Ron filled the undercover demigods in on all of what they knew about the wizarding world.

That evening, Frank, Hazel, and Nico went outside to spar. Will sat nearby, ready if anyone got hurt. Harry took first watch (though he was more focused on the three-way battle between Frank, Hazel, and Nico), Hermione was still reading her book, and Ron fiddled with his radio.

Thirty minutes later, Nico finished the battle by disarming Hazel. The three demigods sat on the ground, panting heavily. Will came over and offered some water, then began checking for injuries.

"I want to visit Xenophilius Lovegood."

The four demigods turned towards Hermione's voice and found her talking to Harry. Ron had stopped tuning his radio and was listening in on their conversation.

"...maybe it's something you need to find out for yourself," Hermione was saying.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ron said.

"No it doesn't! But I still think we should go."

"Let's vote on it," Ron said, raising his hand. Hermione glared at him, but raised hers as well.

"Outvoted, Harry, sorry."

"What about Frank and the others? They've got a say in this too," Harry said.

The three wizards turned to the demigods expectantly. They were spared from answering by the arrival of a beam of golden light, which was rather out of place in the middle of a dark forest. The light solidified into a pile of packages that landed in a heap at the demigods' feet.

" _Do we get a tip? Don't worry, you don't have to pay in drachmas because I take rats as payment."_

" _George, be quiet. We're supposed to be undercover!"_

" _Sorry, Martha."_

The leftover light faded, taking the voices of George and Martha with it.

Will bent down and picked up the first package. Attached was a note in Ancient Greek that read: "Here's the ambrosia and nectar you requested. If you want to preserve your medical supplies, stop getting injured. —Hermes. PS: Do you have any rats? PPSS: George, stop asking for rats!"

Will grinned and showed the note to the other demigods. Frank and Hazel were mildly confused, because they had never met Hermes before, didn't know about Hermes's two snakes, and George's obsession with rats.

The demigods picked up the packages and brought them into the tent. The wizards watched the whole thing with confusion on Harry and Ron's part and suspicion on Hermione's. The witch looked just about ready to whip out her wand and start demanding answers.

There was a moment of silence after the undercover demigods went inside the tent.

"So…We're still going to visit Mr. Lovegood, right?" Ron asked.

* * *

They were still going to visit Mr. Lovegood. The demigods had agreed, if only because the group might learn something from the visit and actually get somewhere.

Mr. Lovegood's house was shaped like one of those lopsided towers you would find in Medieval Europe. Harry, who had been Disapparating under the Invisibility Cloak, became visible as he took off said Cloak and handed it to Hermione. The witch shoved the Cloak in her beaded handbag - the demigods had almost asked her if she was a daughter of Hecate when they discovered it could hold just about anything - and knocked on the rather imposing front door.

It was opened almost immediately, revealing a disheveled wizard with long hair that resembled cotton candy standing in the doorway. He hesitated for several moments before ushering everyone inside.

"Quite the group you've got there, Mr. Potter. Would you all like some tea? It's best served upstairs, so if you'll follow me…" Xenophilius said as he led everyone up a circular staircase.

"This is almost definitely a trap. I can't swing my sword without breaking half the stuff in here," Nico whispered to Will as they climbed the stairs.

"It's alright Neeks. If worst comes to worst and we have to fight, Frank can always turn into a dragon and scare Mr. Lovegood," Will said, only half joking.

The son of Hades smiled slightly and followed his boyfriend into the second-story sitting room, which was so cluttered there was hardly any room for anyone to sit. Once everyone had squeezed into two armchairs next to a window overlooking the hills and stream outside, Mr. Lovegood went back downstairs to talk to a mysteriously absent Luna and make some tea.

The wizards looked around the room, taking in the assortment of objects. The demigods (with the exception of Frank) began to get restless; Nico tapped his foot on the ground, Will drummed his fingers on his knee, and Hazel twisted her hands in her lap, her eyes wandering to the window.

Suddenly, she inhaled sharply, having spotted something outside. At once, the demigods and wizards followed her gaze to a caramel and black stallion drinking from the stream.

"Is that-" Frank started.

"Yes." Hazel replied.

"Oh, no." Frank muttered.

"What? What is it?" Hermione demanded.

"Nothing," Frank and Hazel said quickly.

Nico and Will's eyes widened in unison as they recognized the horse.

" _Oh_ ," Nico said.

"What's happening?" Hermione tried again.

At that moment, Xenophilius returned with a tray of mismatched teacups and a steaming teapot. He still looked rather flustered. His hand shook so badly from pouring the tea that some of it splashed onto his hand. The wizard seemed to take no notice of the fact that he had just scalded his hand. Will bit his lip, trying to resist the impulse to rush over and start healing the injury.

The wizards began discussing something called the Deathly Hallows, but none of the demigods were paying much attention. Arion was watching them now, ears pricked, as if waiting for a signal. Hazel was having a silent conversation with Frank. Will started humming something that sounded suspiciously like _Bohemian Rhapsody._ Nico tuned in to the conversation occasionally, but much of it was about cheating Death. Being the son of Hades and sometimes working with Thanatos, Nico was very against the whole subject and glowered at the ground as if trying to set it on fire.

Frank and Hazel suddenly stood up, seemingly finished with their conversation.

"We're going outside," they said simultaneously, casting meaningful glances at Will and Nico. Nico's hand drifted towards his sword hilt.

"I-I'm really not sure if that's a good idea-" Xenophilius began.

"And why not?" Nico interrupted.

"Um…" Xenophilius mumbled something about Wrackspurts, but his feeble excuse trailed into the air.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Xenophilius stood hastily. "Why don't you all stay for dinner? I'm making Freshwater Pimply soup; our recipe is often requested by our visitors."

Nico raised his other eyebrow at the change in subject, but let it slide.

Frank and Hazel waited until Xenophilius went downstairs and began shuffling around in the kitchen, then followed him. Nico and Will could hear Xenophilius attempting to get them to stay inside. Hazel said something, but was interrupted by Mr. Lovegood. Frank growled. There was a sudden shriek of fear, followed by the clanging of pots crashing into each other. Someone opened the door. Frank and Hazel reappeared outside moments later, hand in hand, walking towards Arion.

"What do you think?" Harry asked Hermione after a moment of silence.

"This is a pile of schist," Nico interjected.

"Exc _use_ me?-" Harry started, but Nico cut him off by raising his hand.

"All this stuff about cheating Death is an old wives tale. You can't cheat Death, he'd get pissed. Sisyphus tried and now he's in the Fields of Punishment."

"You sound like you know him personally. Death, I mean," Hermione said slowly.

"Yeah. We work together from time to time. His boss is my dad."

Behind the two wizards, Will was shaking his head frantically, mouthing, " _Stop talking, Nico!_ "

Harry looked confused. Hermione's face was curiously devoid of any and all emotion, but her eyes danced with the light of sudden knowledge. Ron, however, was the only one to say anything about the whole situation.

"Nico, mate, did you hit your head or something? I'm pretty sure-"

Xenophilius returned with another tray laden with surprisingly matching bowls. Seemingly unaware that he had just interrupted something (again), the wizard began serving foul-smelling soup into each bowl.

Suddenly, a loud _bang_ erupted from a box in the corner of the room, and hundreds of papers flew out of it and around the room. One smacked Hermione in the face. The witch picked it up and quickly read the words printed across the top in bold letters: UNDESIRABLE NUMBER ONE.

"Going for a new angle, Mr. Lovegood?" she asked coldly.

Nico and Will caught on to the situation quickly. The son of Hades drew his sword, Ron and Harry pulled their wands out of their pockets. Xenophilius paled.

"They took my Luna. Because of what I've been writing-," he started to explain, but Nico cut him off with a glare.

"Everyone, grab hands," Will said, following his own instructions. The wizards, startled by the sudden seriousness in the blond's voice, complied without complaint. Xenophilius, about to cast a spell, let out a terrified squeak and scrambled back towards the staircase as every shadow in the room wrapped themselves around the group of teenagers. Seconds later, the five of them were gone.

Nico was vaguely aware of Harry and Ron yelling, Hermione screaming, and Will squeezing his hand so tightly he was cutting off the circulation.

The shadows spit them out next to Arion, Frank, and Hazel. Harry and Ron sat on the ground, looking nauseous. Hermione swayed but remained standing, her eyes unfocused. Will was pale and gasping for breath. Nico himself felt fine, if a bit lightheaded. (He had transported five people by himself, after all.)

Two figures in black cloaks suddenly appeared next to the Lovegoods' front door. They spotted the group almost immediately and ran towards them, shouting curses. (The magical kind, not the swearing kind.) Hazel was already on Arion's back, her sword drawn. Frank was a bear, roaring his challenge to the two approaching Death Eaters.

"Hermione, Apparate us out of here!" Ron yelled.

"What about Frank and Hazel?"  
"They'll be fine. Go, go, go!" Nico shouted.

They linked hands again and Hermione dragged them into the suppressing darkness once more, Arion's angry whinny echoing in the blackness.

When Nico opened his eyes, he was on his back on the ground. Most of his view was obscured by the worried face of Will Solace, who was unscrewing the cap off a canteen of unicorn draught.

"I'm fine, Will," Nico said.

The son of Apollo looked immensely relieved to see Nico conscious, but pushed his smile down with a disapproving frown.

"You nearly overdid it that time."

"It was an emergency situation. What did you want us to do, jump out of a two story window?"

Will sighed. "I'm just worried, you know."

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

Will helped Nico stand up.

They were in another forest. Hermione was walking in a wide circle around them, waving her wand and muttering incantations underneath her breath. Ron and Harry were pulling the tent out of Hermione's beaded handbag.

As Hermione finished the final spell, Arion thundered into camp with Frank (back in human form) and Hazel on his back. Harry and Ron looked up from the tangled mass of canvas and plastic as Arion stopped so Frank and Hazel could get off.

"That's a pretty fast horse," Ron whistled.

Frank grimaced. "You have _no_ idea."

* * *

The next several weeks were spent fending off monster attacks, travelling, and receiving another package of ambrosia and nectar from Hermes. Arion had left two days after the escape of Xenophilius Lovegood's house. Hermione no longer seemed interested in interrogating the undercover demigods for information, but had her nose in a particularly large book almost all the time. The demigods suspected she was reading up on Greek mythology, but couldn't tell for sure because she would always close the book whenever they got near. The book had nothing on the cover other than a plain black background, so they got no information from it.

Nothing too unusual happened until January, when Hades sent Jules-Albert to check on Nico and make sure the mission was going well. Jules-Albert also had a fist-sized diamond in his pocket, which he gave to Hazel. The daughter of Pluto had started crying, knowing that even if her father couldn't directly acknowledge her, he still cared. She had (at night when the wizards were sleeping) used her powers to carve the words _Thank you, Father_ in the diamond and return it to the earth, where it would find its way back to Pluto.

On Valentines Day, Hades sent Alceto to remind (read: threaten) Will to not do anything to make Nico unhappy, or he would end up in the Fields of Punishment. The wizards had been gathering food and water during Alceto's visit, and where very confused when they came back to find Will as pale as a ghost and Nico impersonating a tomato.

The next major event occurred in March. The demigods were fighting a rather large horde of monsters and had gotten a little carried away—literally. By the time the last monster was reduced to a pile of yellow dust, the four demigods found themselves almost two miles from the wizards' camp. They would have no problem getting back, since Frank could turn into an eagle and find the camp by scent, but they were worried about the wizards' safety.

"Calm down guys, it's not like they're going to be kidnapped and taken to a fortress full of the Dark Lord's most loyal followers, right?" Will said.

Hazel called Arion and followed Eagle Frank on horseback with Will as the son of Mars looked (scented?) for camp.

They found the camp ransacked. The tent had been burnt and torn, and there were no wizards in the vicinity. Scuffle marks in the leaves showed signs of a fight.

"They've been captured," Nico said.

"Oh, I should have seen this coming. Why does my dad have to be the god of prophecy?" Will groaned.

"We'll find them. Nico, come on," Frank said, transforming into an eagle and grabbing the son of Hades with his talons.

They found the wizards in a large, mansion-like house. The demigods landed behind a large trimmed bush, one of many that lined the main walkway leading to the entrance of the mansion. As soon as Hazel and Will were off Arion's back, the stallion disappeared in a blur of black and caramel.

"Smart horse. I don't like the feel of that house," Frank said. Hazel sighed, disappointed as always to see her equine friend leave.

The demigods snuck into the house fairly easily. The minute they were all gathered in the foyer, a gut-wrenching scream split the air. They stiffened, thinking they set off an alarm, until a voice followed seconds later, yelling, "Hermione! _Hermione!_ " followed by the sound of metal being rattled against stone.

The demigods spoke almost simultaneously: "Let's split up."

* * *

Frank and Hazel descended the steps to the dungeon and stopped outside the metal cell door. It was open, and Ron and Harry were standing over a body. Hazel squeaked in surprise and covered her mouth, looking green. The wizards turned around sharply, startled, and relaxed slightly when they saw the demigods.

"Harry, we're so sorry-" Frank began.

"Hermione's in danger!" Ron interrupted.

Frank nodded and led everyone back to the foyer, then down a dark hallway. They nearly ran into Nico and Will, who were literally hiding in the shadows. The wispy tendrils of darkness fell away as they saw Harry and Ron approaching.

"Ready?" Nico asked.

"Yes," Frank said.

"Good. There's a powerful witch inside this room, a short guy with a sword that looks a lot like the one from the lake that Harry almost drowned in, and Hermione," Nico said.

"Don't worry, Ron. She's alive." Will added, seeing the look of concern on the ginger-haired wizard's face.

"...It is a fake," a voice from inside the room said, cutting off any response from the wizards.

"Are you sure? Quite sure?" Another, higher pitched voice replied.

"Yes."

"Good." There was a slashing sound, followed by a yell and a dull thud.

"And now, we call the Dark Lord!"

Harry winced, his hands flying up to his forehead and pressing against his scar. Will glanced at him in concern, his doctor side taking over.

"Are you-" he started whispering.

"...take her if you want."

"No!" Ron lunged forward, kicked the door down, and barged into the room. The demigods followed, weapons drawn.

" _Expelliarmus!_ "

A wand flew into the air and was caught by Harry. A trio of wizards who all shared the same bleached white hair and black clothes rushed forwards, wands sparking with magic. Hazel unsheathed her sword and stepped forward to intercept them, Frank at her side in bear form. Nico was already engaged in a battle against a vicious-looking man with matted gray hair and whiskers, sword against claw and wand. The witch who had been disarmed by Ron took a short silver dagger out of her sleeve and advanced on Hermione, who lay unconscious on the floor. Will got there first, grabbing Hermione and pulling her away from the witch.

There was a loud grating noise coming from the ceiling. Will and the knife witch looked up to see the crystal chandelier directly above them creak ominously and then fell. The witch shrieked and threw herself out of the way. Will jumped backwards, taking Hermione with him. The chandelier crashed to the floor in an explosion of crystal, shards flying everywhere.

"Will!" Nico shouted; at the same time, someone screamed, "Dobby!"

Will turned to his boyfriend. At his feet, the werewolf was melting in a puddle of darkness. Over by the fireplace, Frank was keeping the three people in place, growling whenever they moved. Hazel had taken their wands and was holding them delicately, as if they would explode at the slightest touch (which they probably could). Harry was standing next to Ron and Nico, looking like he was going to pass out any second. Will picked up Hermione and ran to the son of Hades, the short man with the sword following him. Frank, back in human form, and Hazel joined them next.

"You must not hurt Harry Potter."

Will glanced back towards the entrance of the room and saw a very short creature with two large green eyes pointing a finger at the witch with the knife.

"Kill him, Cissy!" Bellatrix shrieked. When Narcissa did not respond, she whirled around angrily, but stopped short when she saw Will , Nico, Frank, Hazel, Ron, Harry, an unconscious Hermione, and Griphook gathered close together. Greyback was a half-melted puddle of darkness and the Malfoys were frozen by the fireplace. Dobby appeared next to Harry, and their group was complete.

Nico, who had been gathering shadows around them, shouted, "Grab hands!"

Everyone did so. Bellatrix and the Malfoys seemed to realize what was going to happen. The Malfoys unfroze and ran towards them, and Bellatrix threw her knife with deadly accuracy, her eyes flashing with rage.

Both their efforts were futile - the group of (mostly) teenagers dissolved into shadow, becoming insubstantial as they were transported through the shadow realm. Bellatrix's knife flew through them and clattered harmlessly on the ground. The Malfoys stopped short, staring with fascinated horror as the teenagers, goblin, and elf disappeared.

* * *

They arrived near the ocean. Will could hear waves lapping against the shore. Hermione was awake now, hugging Ron. Harry was talking to Dobby and introducing him to Frank and Hazel. Next to Will, Nico stumbled and sat on the ground.

Will sat next to him, pulling a canteen of unicorn draught out of his bag.

"'M fine…"

"No, you're not! Look, you're fading again!" Will swiped his hand through Nico's.

Nico yawned. "...guess you're right."

"Of course I am. Here, drink this and them you can go to sleep."

Nico reached for the canteen, but his hands passed through it. Will's gut twisted with worry. Nico tried again, and this time he succeeded.

Once the son of Hades finished drinking, he put his head on Will's lap and fell asleep. Will grinned and put his hand on Nico's head.

"Is he okay?"

Will looked up as Hazel and Frank sat next to him, watching the son of Hades with worry.

"He started fading again, but I think he'll be okay now."

Hazel bit her lip. "He pushes himself too much."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined them a couple minutes later. Harry was carrying the short man, Harry was carrying the Sword, and Hermione was looking elated.

"Dobby, had to leave, but he and Kreacher are together and they're alright!" Hermione said excitedly, seemingly forgetting that the demigods had no idea who Kreacher or Dobby was.

"Shh!" Will and Hazel hissed at the same time.

Hermione's eyes flicked to where Nico was sleeping. "Sorry."

"Guys, we should go inside. Bill and Fleur and everyone else are waiting," Ron said.

Will sighed. "I don't want to move Nico until I'm sure he's stable."

"Stable?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. He got all of us here in one jump. Thankfully he hasn't faded that much-" Will blinked, realizing he had been talking too much.

"If he's in such critical condition, shouldn't he be in a hospital or something?" Harry asked.

"Will's the best healer we have. Besides, we can't go to mortal-er, Muggle hospitals," Frank said.

"We have a wizard hospital-" Ron started.

"Is that why you get those packages of medicine every once in a while?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yeah. You can't eat it though, because you'd literally burn up." Will said.

"Then why aren't you guys a pile of ashes right now?"

"We're just special." Frank said, standing up. "Come on, don't we have somewhere to be?"

"Oh, right! Come on, guys, Bill and Fleur are waiting." Ron waited for Will to carefully pick up Nico, then everyone up the sandy beach, through a white painted fence, and into a little cottage.

They were welcomed by a man with a deeply scarred face, a beautiful woman with long silvery hair, and two other teenage wizards. Introductions were made, and everyone was ushered into the living room. Dean took Griphook upstairs to rest. Will laid Nico on the couch and sat next to the son of Hades, Frank and Hazel on either side of him. Harry stood still, looking out the window at some distant point on the horizon. Ron and Hermione sat close together on another couch. The other wizards in the room began discussing whether to move everyone to Muriel's house.

Harry spoke suddenly, "No, I need to talk to Griphook and Ollivander here. It's important."

Bill looked startled, but agreed anyways. He left the room, beckoning for Harry to come with him. Ron and Hermione got up and followed them.

The (conscious) demigods had a quick, silent discussion.

 _Who knows if they will tell us anything afterward?_

 _They probably won't. Frank, maybe you could transform into a fly and spy on them?_

 _Sure._ Frank stood up an announced, "I'm going to the restroom."

After the son of Mars left, Will and Hazel got themselves settled and prepared to wait.

* * *

"Percy!"

The son of Poseidon woke with a start and fell out of his bed onto the hard wood floor of his cabin. Annabeth, gray eyes sparkling with amusement, offered a hand to help him up.

"Wise Girl, it's like, midnight. What's up?"

"Rachel just Iris Messaged me. She wants us to check out something in the attic. She said it was giving her bad vibes or something."

"But we're going back to college tomorrow!"

"Seaweed Brain, this won't take more than a few minutes."

A few minutes later, Percy and Annabeth were in the attic of the Big House. Directly across from them, seated on the old tripod stool like a crown, was a silver and blue object.

"I could have sworn that wasn't there before."

 **A/N: As always, thanks for reading! Just a warning, I don't have the next chapter pre-written so it's going to take longer to publish. Sorry in advance.**


	4. Chapter 3: Robbery

As it turned out, having Frank turn into a fly to spy on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's conversations with Griphook and Ollivander was quite unnecessary. The wizards pulled the demigods aside after breakfast the next day and explained what they planned to do.

"So you want us, four pretty much strangers, to help you rob a super secure magic wizard bank that may or may not have a magical cursed object inside one of its many heavily guarded vaults?" Nico summarized.

"Yeah, basically."

"Let's do it."

They spent the next several days planning how they would break into Gringotts. There were several issues, including the fact that there were eight people (Frank, Hazel, Nico, Will, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Griphook), only enough Polyjuice Potion to disguise one person, and four of them were (to the wizards) Muggles and had no wands.

"We could wait outside as backup. We'll hide somehow. That way, you guys will only have to sneak in four people," Frank suggested.

"I think that's a good idea. I'll cast Disillusionment Charms on you four, Harry and Griphook can hide under the Invisibility Cloak, and Ron and I can be disguised as Death Eaters," Hermione said.

"What if we need help? How will they get to us?" Ron asked.

"I'll take care of that," Nico said.

The wizards looked confused but let it slide.

* * *

They finally finished preparations almost a week later. The teenagers were now gathered outside Shell Cottage, before dawn, in varying states of wakefulness. Frank and Hazel were both half-asleep and had their arms around each other as support. Nico had fallen asleep standing up, resting his head on Will's shoulder.

Hermione, disguised as Bellatrix, was changing Ron's features so that he had much more facial hair than before. He kept yawning though, which made the job a bit more difficult. Griphook climbed onto Harry's back and Will covered them with the Invisibility Cloak. Finished with Ron's disguise, Hermione cast Disillusionment Charms over the four undercover demigods.

"Ready?" Hermione asked.

Everyone nodded. The wizards spun on the spot and Disapparated, taking the demigods with them by Side-Along Apparation.

They reappeared outside the Leaky Cauldron. The invisible demigods followed Bellatrix-Hermione and Ron through the inn and into the tiny backyard. Hermione tapped a brick in the far wall with her wand, causing it to shift bricks until an archway opened up. The group of teenagers and goblin stepped through the arch and into Diagon Alley.

They reached Gringotts without confrontation. The demigods watched the wizards enter the bank, then settled themselves by the entrance and prepared to wait.

After several moments of tense silence, Will whispered to Nico, "Where are they now?"

The son of Hades sighed and closed his eyes, searching for Harry, Ron, and Hermione's life forces. He found them several feet underground, travelling rapidly with two others that he couldn't identify. However, he assumed Griphook was one of them. **(A/N: Nico can only detect the life forces of people he's familiar with. He hasn't known Griphook that long, so he can't distinguish the goblin from the others.)**

Suddenly, the five life forces plummeted and passed out of Nico's range of detection.

"They've fallen somewhere," Nico said, getting to his feet, "I can't find them anymore."

The other three demigods stood quickly and circled up. Nico grabbed Will's hand and whisked the four of them into the shadow realm.

They stumbled out of a shadowy rock wall and right on top of a pile of treasure. The demigods righted themselves as they looked around the room and took stock of the situation. Griphook was still on Harry's back. The black-haired wizard was holding the Sword of Gryffindor. Hermione and Ron, both no longer disguised, and a second goblin were standing by the entrance to the vault, looking baffled at the demigods' arrival.

Any other possible reaction from the wizards was cut off by the clanking of metal on metal as the treasure at the demigods' feet multiplied rapidly. It was already building up in burning white-hot piles around their knees.

"Hazel!" Frank shouted. The daughter of Pluto nodded in understanding and raised her hands. The countless piles of gold and jewels on the floor rose into the air at her command. The Sword in Harry's hand twitched but did not follow its fellow precious metals.

"The cup! Get the cup! It's made of gold and has a badger on it!" Ron yelled, seemingly unfazed by the demigods' arrival.

Hazel clapped her hands together and pointed them towards the ground. The floating treasure smashed together into a giant misshapen ball of precious metals and flew down through the floor. Nico stretched his hand towards the golden cup, and the nearby shadows wrapped around its handles and brought the cup to the son of Hades.

"Go, go, go!" Frank said, ushering everyone out the door

Once outside the vault, Hermione whirled on the demigods and pointed her wand at them.

"Who are you? No, _what_ are you? You clearly aren't wizards, you don't have wands. You can't be Muggles, either. Why are you here? Do you work for You-Know-Who?"

"Hermione, now _really_ isn't the time!" Ron pointed down the corridor, where a large group of goblins had just rounded the corner and, spotting the teenagers, began to run towards them. Griphook, who had gotten hold of the Sword somehow as they left the vault, rushed to his fellow goblins and soon blended in with the crowd.

" _Relashio!_ " a voice shouted.

The demigods and wizards turned to see Harry climbing onto the back of a huge pale dragon, who seemed to be blind and didn't notice that it had been freed yet.

"Come on!" Harry yelled.

The other teenagers followed Harry up the dragon's back. They had barely gotten themselves situated before the dragon noticed it was free and bounded forwards, knocking goblins out of its way with fire and claw. In some places the passageway got too narrow for the dragon to move freely, and it blasted chunks of the tunnel away with brute strength and the aid of some magical curses and Hazel and Nico's geokinesis abilities.

Finally, the dragon reached the huge marble entrance hall. It ran towards the doors, blasted them out of the way, and leapt into the sky, soaring over the roofs of Diagon Alley.

* * *

They seemed to fly for hours before the dragon found a large mountain lake and began to descend. Once its claws brushed the surface, sending up sprays of icy water, the teenagers slid off its back and plunged into the freezing depths.

They regrouped on a grassy bank, all shivering and soaking wet and exhausted. Hermione, however, wouldn't let them catch a break.

"Who _are_ you? Answer me!"

The demigods exchanged glances and silently decided they couldn't keep up the charade any longer. Will sighed and stepped forward.

"We're demigods."

"What?"

"Why don't you sit down? We've got a long story to tell you."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat, albeit skeptically.

"It all started when Kronos ate his kids…"

Several minutes later, Will and the other demigods finished their crash course on Greek and Roman mythology, complete with the disclaimer that the whole thing was completely, one hundred percent real.

"But what does this have to do with you guys? Why are you telling us this?"

"We're demigods. Half human, half god. My dad is Apollo and my mom is Naomi Solace," Will said.

"My dad is Mars, the Roman form of Ares." Frank paused, then added, "My mom is -was- Emily Zhang. She died in the war in Afghanistan."

"My father is Pluto, the Roman form of Hades. My mother was Marie Levesque." Hazel didn't mention the whole possessed-by-Gaea-to-raise-an-evil-giant-and-dying-in-an-underground-cavern part.

There was a pause. Everyone turned to face Nico, who scowled and crossed his arms.

"Come on Neeks, it's not like you're explaining your whole life story," Will said.

"My father is Hades. Hazel is my half-sister," Nico grumbled.

The demigods fell silent as the wizards digested the new information.

"Wait. Four halves equals two wholes so if you're all half god does that mean we have two gods on our side?" Ron asked.

Hermione punched his arm gently. "Ron, it doesn't work that way."

"I still don't quite believe you guys," Harry said slowly.

Nico sighed and put his hand on the ground. "Jules-Albert, wake up."

The grassy bank split open and a zombie in a nineteenth-century motoring outfit climbed out of the ground. The three wizards jumped to their feet and took several steps backwards; Harry pulled out his wand and Hermione gasped, "Inferi!"

"Guys, I'd like you to meet my French zombie chauffeur. His name is Jules-Albert," Nico said, ignoring their reactions.

Harry lowered his wand. "You have a French zombie chauffeur?"

"This explains a lot, actually." Hermione said. "The monster attacks, your wandless magic, that incident in February…"

An Iris Message suddenly shimmered into existence next to the demigods.

"My heroes-" Chiron began, then stopped when he noticed the wizards. "Oh, is this a bad time?"

"It's okay, Chiron. They know," Hazel said.

"I see. Anyways, I called to ask you- Is he alright?" Chiron stopped a second time, looking at something behind them.

The demigods turned to see that Harry had fallen to the ground and had both hands over his scar. His face was scrunched up in pain. Will knelt next to the wizard and placed a glowing hand on his head, but quickly withdrew it.

"This is more your department, Nico."

The son of Hades nodded and joined his boyfriend at Harry's side. Nico put his hand on the wizard's shoulder, closed his eyes, and was immediately yanked into a vision.

He stood next to Harry in a dimly lit room. They watched a bald wizard with no nose pace back and forth in front of a shaking goblin.

"What did they take? _Tell me!_ "

"A-a small golden cup, my Lord…"

The wizard screamed with rage and raised his wand. A jet of green light erupted out of the end and hit the goblin square in the chest. Nico knew he was dead before he hit the ground.

The son of Hades muttered, "Bit possessive of his stuff, isn't he?"

Harry stiffened and turned around, looking shocked when he saw Nico standing next to him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Helping you. Who's that?"

"Voldemort."

At the mention of his name, the noseless wizard turned to face the two teenagers. Harry stood, transfixed, as Voldemort lowered his wand and began to walk towards them.

The Dark Lord was abruptly knocked to the floor as Hazel dropped out of the ceiling and accidentally kicked him in the face.

" _Hazel?_ " Harry gaped.

"How did you get here?" Nico asked, mildly intrigued.

"I touched your shoulder," Hazel explained, standing up and unsheathing her _spatha_ ," and I was brought here. I'm not sure exactly why, though."

Voldemort got to his feet and turned to face the three teenagers, a murderous gleam in his eyes.

"Don't move." Hazel pointed her sword at Voldemort. "Nico, shadow travel us out of here or do your dream-control thing."

"Right." Nico closed his eyes and imagined the vision changing; something small and mostly unnoticeable, just to see if there was any magic blocking his abilities. Voldemort briefly grew a beard. Nico opened his eyes and grinned. Harry was looking from Nico to Voldemort and back again, a look of awed horror on his face.

Voldemort himself hadn't noticed his sudden growth and disappearance of facial hair; he was still focused on Hazel and her _spatha_. The wizard abruptly flicked his wand. A stream of fire burst from the tip and curled around Hazel's sword arm like a snake. The daughter of Pluto screamed and, reacting instinctively, swung her arm to put the fire out. Voldemort, who had been walking forward again, stepped right into the _spatha_ 's blade. The sword cut off Voldemort's hand at the wrist.

The Dark Lord hissed in pain and dropped to his knees, holding his arm tightly. Hazel jumped back, her _spatha_ trailing on the ground, looking pale and muttering, "That shouldn't have happened. That should _not_ have happened." Nico grabbed Harry's arm and Hazel's uninjured hand and commanded the shadows to take them away.

The three teenagers woke up on the grassy bank. Frank, Will, Ron, and Hermione were watching them anxiously; Chiron's Iris Message had disappeared.

"Will, Hazel got hurt." Nico spoke as soon as his eyes opened.

"Yeah." Will knelt next to the daughter of Pluto and examined her burnt arm. "You'll have to take some ambrosia for this." He took the godly food out of his bag and handed a square to Hazel, then carefully poured some nectar over her wound, muttering a prayer to his father.

The wizards watched in fascination as Hazel's skin shimmered and began healing. Soon, all that was left was a shiny, pinkish trail of skin curling around her arm.

"Thanks, Will," Hazel said quietly, gently poking the tender skin.

"What happened? Wasn't that just a vision?" Frank asked, watching his girlfriend anxiously.

"We were transported there somehow," Nico started.

"You-Know-Who noticed us pretty quickly." Harry picked up,"He was probably going to attack us, but Hazel kicked him in the face and then Nico gave him a beard-"

"You what?"  
"-And then he burned Hazel's arm. He knows we're hunting Horcruxes," Harry continued as if Ron had not interrupted him.

"What I don't get is why my sword cut off his hand," Hazel said, looking queasy at the memory.

"You _what?_ "

"It should have just gone through him, because he's a mortal." Hazel stated.

"Maybe it has something to do with his Horcruxes or the fact that he's a wizard?" Nico mused.

"Speaking of Horcruxes," Frank said," Chiron told us something surprising-"

"Apparently, there's a Horcrux at your camp." Hermione finished.

" _What?!"_

* * *

The wizards and demigods Apparated just outside the magical boundaries of Camp Half-Blood. Peleus growled softly at the wizards but didn't move from his position at the base of Thalia's pine tree.

They were greeted by Chiron - in his wheelchair and carrying a box - and Mr. D, who looked like he would rather be anywhere but there. Chiron handed the box to Hermione. She opened it, took out the blue and silver diadem Horcrux, and put it inside her beaded handbag.

"Thank you, Chiron."

"Will you be staying for the night to rest up before you continue?" the centaur asked.

Will perked up at the idea and turned to his boyfriend. "Do you have _any_ idea how many infirmary shifts I've missed? We've been gone for _months_ , that's got to be hundreds of them at least-"

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm sure the infirmary can survive without you for another couple of weeks, Will."

Hermione was looking excited at the prospect of being able to explore and learn about something new. Ron had already spotted the dining pavilion and was looking from it to Hermione and Harry, as if asking permission, and back again. Harry had a hesitant expression on his face, as if he wanted to stay for a while but knew they needed to get going.

Frank finally got the group going. "Come on, guys. We've got to destroy this diadem, right? So we have to go to Hogwarts to find that basilisk you wizards were talking about earlier-"

"I still don't understand why we can't just go to Camp Jupiter and use one of the basilisks there," Hazel muttered.

"We've been over this already!" Hermione sounded slightly exasperated. "We're going to Hogwarts anyways because that's where You-Know-Who will be and we still have to kill Nagini, so we might as well just pop into the Chamber of Secrets for some basilisk fangs-"

"Guys, we've got to get going. The sun is already setting and You-Know-Who is on the move," Harry interrupted.

They said goodbye to Chiron, who waved, and Mr. D, who rolled his eyes. Half-Blood Hill dissolved into darkness as Hermione, Harry, and Ron Apparated everyone to Hogsmeade.

* * *

The instant their feet hit road, an ear splitting scream sliced through the air. Hermione quickly cast Disillusionment Charms over everyone, just as the door to a nearby building crashed open and a group of cloaked and masked Death Eaters burst out into the street.

One of them waved his wand, silencing the scream, then said," Split up. Potter's around here somewhere."

"Wait. Why don't we just release the dementors? Let _them_ find Potter. Even if they get him, he won't be killed. The Kiss just sucks out your soul."

There were murmurs of agreement from the other Death Eaters, and they retreated back into the building.

Harry groaned and muttered," If I do a Patronus Charm, they'll know we're here for sure."

"We're just going to have to risk it," Hermione whispered.

Just as she finished speaking, the temperature began dropping so rapidly that a layer of ice spread over the street and the teenagers could see their breath fogging the air.

"Nico, stop that!" Will hissed.

"It's not me!"

Dark, ragged shapes swopped through the air. Nico raised his hands and the shadows around them began to move, narrowing into sharp needles and flying at the dementors. Frank and Hazel had their weapons out, but their arms were trembling slightly. Will suddenly began glowing, a warm yellow light enveloping the seven teenagers and suppressing the dementor's effects.

" _Expecto Patronum!_ "

A silver stag sprang from Harry's wand and joined Nico's shadows in driving back the dementors.

"Down there! Potter's stag!"

The teenagers froze and looked at each other. Will stopped glowing; Hermione's Disillusionment Charms flickered and died. Harry's stag faded, and the shadows stopped moving.

"Potter! In here, quick!"

They turned to see an old man standing in the doorway of a pub. He waved them inside and up a flight of stairs, then stepped outside. They could hear him arguing with the Death Eaters about Patronuses, goats, and cats. Finally the voices quieted, and the man came back upstairs.

"You're Alberforth, Dumbledore's brother," Harry said.

The old man nodded once. "I don't know what you're doing back here, Potter. If I were you, I'd pack up and move out into the countryside somewhere."

"Dumbledore gave us-," Harry gestured to the group of teenagers," He gave all of us a job. We've got to get into Hogwarts. Can't you help us?"

Aberforth laughed bitterly, without any humor. "Are you sure you've got a brain up there, boy?"

Hazel stepped forward. "Please help us, sir. We need to get into Hogwarts. It's essential to our mission."

Aberforth scowled at them for a long while, as if making up his mind about something, then turned to an oil painting of a young girl. "You know what to do."

The girl smiled, turned, and walked deeper into the painting, following an old stone passageway that had been painted behind her. The four demigods, who had never seen a wizard painting before, stared at the portrait in shock.

Moments later, the girl returned with a second figure following her. Her painting swung forward like a door, and a boy about Harry's age climbed through the hold. He was covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises, but he had a huge smile on his face.

"I knew you'd come back, Harry!"

" _Neville?_ What happened to you?"

"Oh, this?" The boy gestured to his face, and Harry nodded.

"This isn't bad. A couple others have it worse."

"Let me help with those injuries." Will interrupted. The boy, Neville, looked confused. Will put a hand on the boy's shoulder and sang a hymn to his father. His hand glowed, and Neville's various injuries began to heal.

"How'd you do that?" Neville asked.

"Wandless magic," Will said quickly, shrugging.

"Woah!"

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Aberforth interrupted, scowling.

"Right, right. Thanks Ab. Come on guys, let's go." Neville climbed back through the hole behind the portrait of the still-smiling girl, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the demigods followed. The painting swung shut behind them.

* * *

The tunnel behind the painting led to a large room filled with hammocks, sleeping bags, books, chairs, an assortment of cushions, an endless amount of candles, and a crowd of teenaged wizards who all sported multiple injuries: gashes of varying length and depth, bruises of multiple colors, and several broken bones. Will inhaled sharply at the sight of their many wounds. Nico grabbed his boyfriend's hand and gave it a quick, reassuring squeeze. The son of Apollo smiled gratefully, and together they turned to face the crowd, who had gone quiet at their arrival.

"Harry Potter?"

"He's here! He's back!"

Excited whispers broke out among the group.

"Who are _they_?" Someone pointed at the demigods.

"We're here to help you defeat the Dark Lord," Frank said quickly.

"They can do wandless magic!" Neville yelled,

"Woah, really?"

"That's so cool!"

"Even _Dumbledore_ couldn't do wandless magic, I think!"

"Guys!" Harry shouted over the crowd. "We need a basilisk fang!"

"Neville quickly explained how the Room of Requirement changed its location every day, told them to watch out for Snape and the Carrows, then showed Harry, Ron, and Hermione the door that would lend them to the rest of Hogwarts.

"Neville, wait. We've got to tell you something," Harry said.

"What is it, Harry?"

"You-Know-Who is coming. Can you tell Professor McGonagall and get everyone evacuated? They can use Aberforth's pub to Disapparate from Hogwarts."

" _Everyone?_ Like, every student in Hogwarts?"

"Yeah."

Ron poked Harry's shoulder. "Tell him about the snake."

"No! That'll put them in danger! Besides, _we'll_ take care of the snake."

"Well, fine. I still think they could help."

"They're doing _plenty_."

"Snake? What snake?" Neville asked.

"Nothing!" Harry said quickly, as Ron opened his mouth. "Just get everyone out of Hogwarts!"

"Okay, okay!"

As soon as Harry, Ron, and Hermione left, Neville turned to the crowd of wizards and demigods.

"Guys! You-Know-Who is coming! We've got to tell our Heads of Houses and defend Hogwarts! We're going to fight!"

There was a roar of approval.

"Also, we have a snake to kill! It's the one that's always following You-Know-Who wherever he goes!"

The crowd yelled with triumph and excitement, which was loud enough to wake up half the castle, and the wizards surged past Neville and through the door to Hogwarts.

 **A/N: I hope to have the next chapter updated in a week or two. Sorry for the long wait, you** guys.


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